No. 1 Long Beach State Suffers Setback at No. 11 USC

Saturday, March 23

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 PM

Long Beach State University

19-1

USC

13-8

Long Beach State

USC

3/23/2019 11:00:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

The Beach drop their first match of the season in non-conference road contest

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Box Score (PDF) | Play-By-Play (PDF)

LOS ANGELES – The top-ranked Long Beach State men's volleyball team was unable to overcome a slow start as the Beach dropped their first match of the season at No. 11 USC, 3-0 [25-21, 25-21, 25-17].

The loss snaps a 23-match winning streak, the second-longest in program history, for the Beach as they move to 19-1 on the year, while the Trojans improve to 13-8.

For the first time all season, Long Beach State was outhit by its opponent and was held to a hitting percentage of under .300.

The Beach went head-to-head with the Trojans in the North Gym inside the PE Building on USC's campus and hit .215 in the match, while the hosts connected on 42-of-71 swings, while committing just seven errors for a .493 attack percentage.

USC took a 2-0 lead to start the match and led throughout the first set. The Beach turned in their highest set attack percentage of the contest in the opening frame as they hit .345 (14-4-29). However, USC hit .407 with 14 kills on 27 swings with three errors. The Trojans led the entire set and handed the Beach a 25-21 loss.

Long Beach State was limited to its lowest set hitting percentage of the match in the second set as the Beach hit just .120 (9-6-25). Despite an early tie, USC hit .476 in the frame and, after using a 4-0 run, took a 6-2 lead that it would hold the remainder of the set. The Trojans would go on to defeat the Beach 25-21 and take a 2-0 set lead heading into the third set.

In the third and final set of the match, the Trojans hit .609 in the frame as they tallied 15 kills on 23 attempts, while committing just one error. Meanwhile, the Beach hit .160 (9-5-25) and trailed the entire set. The frame saw three ties, but Long Beach State never led as the Beach suffered its first sweep since May 4, 2017.

Kyle Ensing and TJ DeFalco led the team with nine and eight kills, respectively, while Josh Tuaniga distributed 25 assists. DeFalco also led the squad with five digs and two aces

USC boasted three double-figure scorers in Ryan Moss (14 kills), Jack Wyett (13 kills), and Gianluca Grasso (10 kills), while Matt Douglas collected nine digs, and Sam Lewis posted four blocks.

Long Beach State resumes Big West Conference action on Friday, March 29 at No. 6 UC Irvine. First serve is set for 7 p.m.